Bruce P's World Travel Funs

What are you lookin' at?

Bruce P's World Travel Funs

What are you lookin' at?

I am fortunate enough to have a job where I get paid to travel, and it is my sincere desire to bore you with the details. Although I may occasionally rant about something or another, I am quite aware of the true value (or lack thereof) of my opinions, so I will generally keep them to myself. The only reason that I publish this rag is to disseminate pictures and stories from my travels in a (relatively) family-friendly way.Check out my big website:http://www.bpwtf.com

I am fortunate enough to have a job where I get paid to travel, and it is my sincere desire to bore you with the details. Although I may occasionally rant about something or another, I am quite aware of the true value (or lack thereof) of my opinions, so I will generally keep them to myself. The only reason that I publish this rag is to disseminate pictures and stories from my travels in a (relatively) family-friendly way.Check out my big website:http://www.bpwtf.com

The Problem With Srbija

02/13/10 02:36

There has been a disturbing trend on this trip where weekdays are sunny and warm, then weekends are bitter cold and windy, with either rain, freezing rain, or snow falling. I understand that you folks back home have experienced some weather yourself, but this is not about you, it’s all about me.

A typical Saturday in BelgradeAs far as Yerevan is concerned, I’ve had some good food and we got a little pickled at a German pub last night (Warsteiner on tap is a thing to behold), but today is cold and raining. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm, so I’ll get out and explore. Today is for sleeping and loafing about.

Serbia is one of those places where Yanks need to be very aware of their surroundings at all times. One can be having a very pleasant conversation with some locals, but they will turn on you in a second and things get ugly. There seems to be a certain victim mindset in the national psyche. They assume no guilt for whatever crimes they have committed. The brand new Grand Poobah of the Serbian Orthodox Church made a speech last week about how Muslims massacred thousands of Serbs in Srebednice, but the American press turned it around and said that the Serbs did the killing. The public eats this stuff up. They wonder why we attacked them, and they resent it.

Although the bombing was a NATO function, they blame USA alone for their misery.

There’s 2 bombed out government office buildings, conveniently located right down the street from the US EmbassyThey have stood there in this state for over a decade, probably in a government attempt to keep the populace riled up. It is illegal to take pictures of them so I was very careful, and I have waited until I was far away from Serbia to post them. When we would go by them on our way to work, the taxi drivers would start mumbling some unpleasant sounding stuff.

I hope that - like the Germans - someday they will come to terms with their past and get over all this anger, but it will take time (and acceptance of guilt).

Most of the war criminals apparently are football hooligans, so we were strongly advised to avoid parts of town and bars that they are found at, so no schwag on this stop...

But we did have some fun times and we met some really nice people. An astonishing number of Serbians speak English very well, the signs are easy to read, and Belgrade looks like a great place to be in the summer. And the food is excellent.

A traditional Serbian restaurant interiorThe trams were fun to ride and very convenientI have received comments about my experimenting with my blog’s layout and colors. I was getting bored with the same old thing and I am looking for something new, but my creativity has taken a sabbatical. I’ll try to come up with something that is not so dreary.